Privacy Policy

PRIVACY POLICY

Howard Consultants knows that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your expectation that we will do so carefully and sensibly. By visiting the Howard-Consultants.com Web site (the “Site”) or by otherwise interacting with Howard Consultants, you agree to accept the practices described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy is further subject to Howard Consultants’ Services Agreement. For questions on the Privacy Policy please contact customer support.

Howard Consultants values your privacy and is dedicated to protecting your personal information and providing you with notice about what personally identifiable information we collect and how it is used, what choices you have regarding the collection, use and distribution of that information; the security procedures we implement to protect that information and what access you may have to correct any inaccuracies in the information we have collected from you.
What Information Does Howard Consultants Collect?
We receive and store any information you enter on our Site or give us in any other way, such as via telephone, electronic mail, online or otherwise. For example, this information may be collected when you register a domain name or when you contact us for customer support. Here are the types of information we gather:

– Contact Information: We are required by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”), the organization which assumes responsibility for domain name allocation, to collect certain information about you during the domain name registration process and to maintain a copy of such information with a third party escrow service. This information may include your full name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and, where provided, your facsimile number. Such contact information may be used, for example, to communicate with you when necessary with respect to transactions. Additionally, we may collect contact information provided to us during any correspondence relating to customer support, as well as in connection with products and services offered on the Site.

– Financial Information: We also collect and retain certain financial information from you during the domain name registration process, as well as in connection with other products and services which we offer on the Site. For example, when you apply to register a domain name or sign up for any other product or service through Howard Consultants, we require you to provide a credit card number and billing address before we will process that application. We will not sell, share or rent any financial information collected from you except as disclosed in this policy or as necessary to fulfill your order.

– Demographic Information: We may collect and store anonymous demographic information (such as your zip code, gender and age), and use this data to tailor your experience at our Site, provide content that we think you might be interested in, perform general improvements to the Site, and display the content according to your preferences. Such demographic information may be shared with partners, market researchers and other third parties on an aggregate, non-personally identifiable basis. No personally identifiable information will be linked to such aggregated demographic information that is shared with third parties.

– Other Information: We collect and store certain types of information whenever you interact with us. For example, our servers track the type of Web browser you are using, and the page to which you link from Howard Consultants. Additionally, we log IP addresses (a unique number assigned to every computer on the Internet) in order to improve security, analyze trends and administer the Site. We may track your movement within the Site, the third-party website pages from which you were referred, access times and browser types. We use this information to gauge the effectiveness of our Site, track information for statistical purposes and to improve the products and services we provide. We collect this information to better develop a sense of what services our customers need and identify areas of improvement to the Site. We may use such information for marketing purposes, and to send information to you which we believe might be of interest. In addition, such information may be shared with partners, market researchers and other third parties on an aggregate, non-personally identifiable basis. No personally identifiable information will be linked to such aggregated information shared with third parties.

We may supplement the information you provide us by acquiring publicly or commercially available information from as available in the public domain or from third parties, for instance, to verify your address or to update your information and to create a profile of your preferences. We tie your personally identifiable information to information in the profile, in order to improve the content of the Site for you or to inform you about products or services that we think will be of interest to you. In addition, we may obtain non-sensitive contact information from third parties, including via bulk access licenses from other registrars. From time to time, we may also ask you to participate in surveys or other communications conducted by us or third parties designed to help us improve the Site, or the products or services we provide.
– Cookies: The Howard Consultants Site uses “cookie” technology for such purposes as enhancing your online experience by making it easier for you to navigate through the Site and making certain features work better. Cookies are text files which are commonly deposited by web sites on a user’s hard drive when the user visits a web site. The file identifies a user’s computer and can record the user’s preferences and other data about the user’s site visit. We do not extract information about individual users during this process. Your web browser may enable you to disable cookies, but please note that certain services may not function correctly without it.
– We may use third-party ad-serving companies, such as Dotomi and Omniture, to serve ads on our behalf across the Internet and sometimes on this site. They will collect anonymous information about your visits to our Site, and your interaction with our products and services. They may also use information about your visits to this and other Websites to target advertisements for goods and services and may be used to keep track of user response to each advertisement. These targeted advertisements may appear on our site or on other sites that you visit. The anonymous information is collected through the use of a pixel tag or cookies, which are industry standard technologies used by most major web sites. No personally identifiable information is collected in this process. If you do not want such companies to collect this information you may opt-out. Opting-out will not in any way affect your use of our site. In order to opt-out for Dotomi please click here and to opt-out for Omniture please go to http://www.omniture.com/en/privacy/policy#optout.
– Third Party Cookies: We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Site. Our third-party advertising companies may also separately place or recognize a cookie file on your browser in the course of delivering advertisements to this Site. These companies may use information about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. However, no personally identifiable information (such as your name, address, email address or telephone number) will be connected with such information.
– Web Beacons: Web pages may contain electronic images (called a “single-pixel GIF” or “web beacon”) that allow a Web site to track the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns. No personally identifiable information will be transmitted via web beacons.
How Personal Information Is Used
Our Use: We receive and store any personal information you enter on the Site or give to us voluntarily in any other way and may use it to contact you from time to time. Specifically, by registering on the Site and providing your telephone number, you agree that this action constitutes a purchase, inquiry and/or application for purposes of telemarketing laws. Regardless of the fact that your telephone and/or cell number may be listed with the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry, or your local State Do-Not-Call list, you expressly consent to receive future information about products and services from us, and in that regard, you hereby consent to our contacting you pursuant to the business relationship established using the information you provided to us. This means we may contact you by e-mail, phone and/or cell number (including use of automated dialing equipment), text (SMS) message, social networks or any other means of communication that your wireless or other telecommunications device may be capable of receiving (e.g. video, etc.). We may also send you information or offers from time to time to the postal address or email address we have on file. If you provide your name for a promotional offer, to enter a sweepstakes or contest, and win a prize, we will post a winner’s list online, and will file your name with state agencies if required by law.

WHOIS Information: ICANN requires Howard Consultants to make certain information, collected in connection with the registration of a domain name, available to the public via an interactive Web page and a “port 43” WHOIS service. This public information includes your full name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and, where provided, your facsimile number, as well as the creation and expiration dates of your domain name registration and the nameserver information associated with your domain name, but does not include demographic, financial or Internet usage information. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy we will refer to this information collectively as your “WHOIS Information.” Please note that we do not control how members of the public may use the WHOIS Information.

Third Parties: From time to time we may share personally identifiable information with third parties in order to have them send you special offers and promotions or other information we think you might find of interest. We ourselves will also occasionally send you information on products, services, special deals, promotions, or information which we have found that may be of interest to our users and subscribers. If you do not want us to use the information you provide in order to inform you of products and services we think might interest you, or provide your information to third party companies, it is your obligation to please let us know by contacting customer support.

Agents and Service Providers: We engage other companies, individuals, subsidiaries and affiliates of Howard Consultants to perform certain functions and/or services to our customers. Examples may include processing credit card payments, providing marketing assistance and removing repetitive information from customer lists, as well as offering electronic mail services and making available digital certificates. Additionally, if you register a domain name through Howard Consultants, we may forward certain information you provide to the appropriate registry handling the administration of your chosen top level domain. Your contact and financial information may either be collected by or shared with such third parties as necessary, and in some cases, your information may be retained or used by such third parties.

We contract with service providers to provide us with a data collection and reporting services. When you visit our Site, those service providers may on our behalf collect information about you in order provide us with aggregated data about our customers to assist us in conducting our business and delivering the most relevant products and services to our customers. If you would like to opt-out of the gathering of such information, you can disable your cookies that assist in the gathering of that data, but please note that certain services and functions of our Site may not function correctly without cookies.

Service Related Uses: We may use your personal information to contact you about the goods or services you have purchased from us, or for other purposes in which you have expressed an interest, for example, if you have contacted customer service or made an inquiry. We will provide you with service and account related announcements on occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if the delivery of a service or product is delayed we might send you an email, or other message, or if there is some service issue with something you might have ordered. Generally, you may not opt-out of these communications, which are not promotional in nature. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the option to cancel your service.

Partner Web Sites and Pages: Howard Consultants sometimes enters into agreements in which we jointly develop or operate Web sites with third parties (“Partner Site”). Any information collected via a Partner Site may be jointly owned by Howard Consultants and the applicable third party partner, or, alternatively, owned solely by us or the third party partner. It is your responsibility to check the privacy policy of such third parties before submitting any personal information to a Partner Site.

Business Transfers: As Howard Consultants continues to develop its business, it might sell or transfer all or some of its business or assets, or create a separate business and customer information generally would be transferred as one of the business assets of the company or be shared or transferred in the event of an insolvency, bankruptcy, receivership, or pledging of assets. Also information about our users, including customer information may also need to be disclosed in connection with a commercial transaction seeking financing, investment, support or funding.

Protection of Howard Consultants and Others: We may release account and other personal information when we are required to do so by law, court order or other government or law enforcement authority or regulatory agency, including ICANN; to enforce or apply our Services Agreement or other agreements; or when we believe in good faith that disclosing this information is necessary or advisable, including, for example, to protect the rights, property, or safety of Howard Consultants, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Safe Harbor: Howard Consultants complies with the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework and the U.S.-Swiss Safe Harbor Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information from European Union member countries and Switzerland. Howard Consultants has certified that it adheres to the Safe Harbor Privacy Principles of notice, choice, onward transfer, security, data integrity, access, and enforcement. To learn more about the Safe Harbor program, please visit http://www.export.gov/safeharbor/.
We have further committed to refer unresolved privacy complaints under the Safe Harbor Principles to an independent dispute resolution mechanism, the European Data Protection Authorities, operated by the United States Council for International Business. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your complaint, or if your complaint is not satisfactorily addressed by us, you may contact:
US Council for International Business
1212 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10036

HOWARD CONSULTANTS ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY WITH REGARD TO ANY THEFT, LOSS, ALTERATION OR MISUSE OF PERSONAL OR OTHER INFORMATION LAWFULLY PROVIDED BY HOWARD CONSULTANTS TO THIRD PARTIES, OR WITH REGARD TO THE FAILURE OF ANY THIRD PARTY TO ABIDE BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY OR SUCH THIRD PARTY’S PRIVACY POLICY OR ANY AGREEMENT BETWEEN THAT THIRD PARTY AND HOWARD CONSULTANTS.

Electronic Mail: From time to time, Howard Consultants may use your personal information to contact you by electronic mail concerning our services. These communications are intended to inform you of important information regarding your account, or about general services provided by Howard Consultants. If you do not want to receive email from us regarding new services, please click the “unsubscribe” link which is included at the bottom of any email you receive from Howard Consultants. However, in order to fulfill our service obligations to you, we will continue to send you emails regarding your account administration, as well as any necessary information, such as renewal instructions. By providing us with your email address you consent to receiving communications from us electronically and all notices, disclosures and other communications that we provide to you electronically satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

Sites Other Than Howard-consultants.com: Howard Consultants has no control over and is not responsible for the privacy policies or information gathering practices of other Web sites, including those to which we may link and those which may link to us. In addition, Howard Consultants owns and operates other Web sites separately from the Site, and this Privacy Policy applies only to the information collected by the Site (i.e., www.howard-consultants.com). We strongly recommend that you review the privacy policies of every online service you use before submitting any personal information and direct any concerns to the site administrator of that site.

Choice And Opt Out
You may opt-out of marketing communications from us by contacting customer support or opting out from the opt-out link in any marketing email we send to you.

Procedures Used To Protect Personal Information
We work to protect the security of your financial information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (“SSL”) software, which encrypts the information you input on the Site. Keep in mind however, that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. You can further help to ensure your security by taking a few simple precautions. For instance, it is important to protect against unauthorized access to your username and password and to your computer. Be sure to sign off when finished using a shared computer.

Access To Personal Information
Howard Consultants gives you the ability to access the information you have provided for the limited purpose of viewing and, in certain cases, updating that information. To view or change the accessible information, Howard Consultants customers may contact customer support or login to their customer account if such a login is available. We may retain your information in our files after you terminate all your services with us to resolve disputes, enforce our Service Agreement and/or other terms and conditions or policies, and due to technical and legal requirements and constraints related to the security, integrity and operation of the Site. Past customers may request this information by contacting customer support. Please note, however, that no financial information will be provided over the phone, and in no event will such information be provided without verification.

Children
You must be at least eighteen (18) years old to register online or purchase our goods or services. Howard Consultants does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 18.

Disputes
By choosing to visit Howard-Consultants.com, you agree that your visit and any dispute you may have regarding the protection of your privacy during such visit is subject to this Privacy Policy and our Disclaimer within our Site Terms of Use, including, but not limited to, the provisions regarding limitations on damages. Please note that if you enter into other agreements with Howard Consultants, such other agreements may supercede this policy. If you have any concerns about your privacy at Howard Consultants, please contact customer support.

Effective Date
The Effective Date of this Privacy Policy is set forth below. Please make special note of the Effective Date of this Privacy Policy. Due to the constantly changing nature of our business, we reserve the right to change, update or modify this policy at any time at our sole discretion, and will post any new privacy policy here. Any such change, update or modification will be effective immediately upon posting on the Howard Consultants Site. Use of information that we gather will be subject to the Privacy Policy in effect at the time it was obtained. You are responsible for checking our Site frequently to keep apprised of recent changes. By going to our Site or using our Services after the Effective Date, you are deemed to have consented to our then-current privacy policy and will be bound by its terms.

How to Contact Us
For questions on the Privacy Policy please contact info@howard-consultants.com